Tuolumne Meadows bus Once you are in the
park, reservations may be placed at any Tour & Activity Desk or by calling
x1240 from any house phone. To make reservations prior to your arrival in
the Park, please call (209) 372-1240. Reservations can be made up
to seven days in advance.

Fares vary according to where you are going
based on the list above. The most expensive route is the valley to
the Tuolumne Lodge at $14.50 one-way and $23 round trip. Any
other partial destination is less.

Dining recommendation!
While in Tuolumne, drive down to the "Whoa
Nellie Deli" at the Mobil Station in Lee Vining! You'll be glad
you did.

**********************

The Tuolumne Meadow(s) area of Yosemite National Park is
quite different from the valley and Wawona. It's the high country,
with an altitude of 8,500 at it's lowest point. Nearby Tioga Pass,
the eastern gate of the park is at the 10,000 foot elevation and is the
highest elevation you can attain by car. By comparison, the valley
and Wawona areas are at the 4,000 foot elevation. It is quite a bit
colder here, and weather patterns are different as well. It rains
more in Tuolumne, as it is situated closer to the east slope of the Sierra
Nevada. In years past the mosquitoes were worse, but that seems to
have been lessened for some reason that has excaped me. Bear
activity is much higher here. Bears are very active in the
campground and all along the Lyell Fork of the Tuolumne River in the Lyell
Canyon.

Tuolumne Meadow is just that; an
enormous meadow, very beautiful, but even more so in the spring with the
wild flowers. Highway 120 goes through the area, a paved road in
very good condition.

There are very few services in
Tuolumne, the basics, really. During the summer, which runs on
average from mid-June to mid-September, there's a campground, small
grocery store, grill, post office, small gas station open 24 hours
(automated) and visitor center. There's also a year-round ranger
station and seasonal High Sierra Camp with restaurant. It's the
center of the universe for those embarking on long backpacking trips to
Glenn Aulin, Vogelsang, and Donahue Pass along the John Muir Trail and
Pacific Crest Trail. Although the Tioga Pass Road (as it is also
called) is open from just before Memorial Day to well into October or
November, services are available only during summer.

This is an area where you can find
solitude very easily. With only a leisurely stroll north or south
along the Tuolumne River, one can find a spot along the river bank and be
very private. Swim, fish, or just sit and stare at the sky...

The following are links to various
photo pages from various parts of the Tuolumne Meadows area:

Tuolumne Meadows in early July. The perfect place to lose yourself.
This view is looking east.

Lembert Dome is on the left.

The Tuolumne River meanders through
countless meadows such as this, offering the visitor incredible scenery in
complete solitude. This is the view looking southeast from the Glenn
Aulin trail.

Click on the image for a
map of Tuolumne Meadows

Hustling "downtown" Tuolumne Meadows.
The general store is on the left, post office in the center, and cafe on
the right. During season, the store closes at 8pm, and the grill
closes at 7pm. For the season, it closes around the end of
September. If you go to Tuolumne Meadows after that, you will have
no services whatsoever.

The campground is behind this structure.

It's the
only outpost of civilization between Tioga Lake and Crane Flat.

This is
the center of operations for climbers, backpackers, cyclists and
day-trippers. Casual is the word.

This
photo, taken July 4, 2004. Notice how many campgrounds had vacancies.
Yosemite Creek and all the campgrounds along Tioga Road had vacancies.

Notice Camp 4 (in the valley) even had
vacancies at 2:30pm in the afternoon!!

Amazing.
I've never seen a July 4th weekend with vacancies in the campground.
Tuolumne Meadows campground is 1/2 reservations and 1/2
first-come-first-served.

The
backside of Half Dome (right) and Cloud's Rest (left) as seen from Olmstead
Point.

How the weather can changeSnow at Tuolumne Meadows in late September, 2004

by Bill

It
was my pleasure to drive along The Tioga Road on Monday, Sept. 20,
2004. Perhaps Maw Nature was feeling her oats because she unleashed
snow in the Tioga Lake and Tuolumne Meadows area. I thought it was too
early, but not her!

When I got to Tioga Lake it really began to come down ... enough to put
a white dusting on the road and ground and that only added to the
accumulation in some places already there. Up to an inch here and
there. I saw a guy standing up to his ankles in Tioga Lake having his
picture taken. He was dressed in a warm coat. There were a number of
picnickers around the Tioga Lake area who were not bothered in the
least by the snow. Hearty individuals!

The thing about this storm was it came and went. It would snow for five
minutes, then the sun would come out and the sky would turn bright
blue. It seemed the temperature would go up ten or fifteen degrees.
Then, more snow. This continued as I drove along Tenaya Lake, past
Olmstead Point and all the way to Tuolumne Meadows. I stopped at the
visitor center at Tuolumne Meadows and bought a pair of bright blue
thermal underwear. I was beautiful with those undies under my khaki
shorts. Then it was off to the Soda Springs trail to do the hike I had
planned. I was in and out of snow three times during that hr. hike.

After the Soda Springs walk I went to the grill at Tuolumne Meadows for a burger and a hot cup of coffee. Still Snowing!

Shortly before I headed over to the Lee Vining entrance for some
pictures of Mount Dana it stopped snowing but I was in and out of it
several times driving to the park gate.

The snow melted almost as soon as it hit the ground, but it really came
down several times. It was beautiful! I have never seen snow at
Yosemite so it was a new experience. While I was up on Tioga Road it
snowed and rained in the valley so I am told. "They" say it was quite a
storm. From my viewpoint that storm came over Lembert Dome, over ME and
went right down Tioga Canyon to the valley. I know that when I got to
my cabin at House Keeping Camp later that day the roads in the valley
were wet and there was some snow here and there still on the ground.

That night I froze! As I said I was in Housekeeping. No heat and all I
had was a sleeping bag. I'm told it went down to 37 degrees. Oh well, I
flew close to two thousand miles to be in Yosemite and was not about to
let a little cold and snow spoil it for me.

As the week progressed the days and nights became warmer. I left the
valley on Friday morning and the temperature was in the upper 70s.